Water hose, rotary brush attachment

ABSTRACT

A water hose attachment including a propeller actuated by a stream of water enclosed in a housing and to which propeller a brush is attached and thereby driven and rotated so as to more effectively wash and brush automobiles and the like.

United States Patent [191 Gaudio 1 WATER HOSE, ROTARY BRUSH ATTACHMENT [75] Inventor: Domenico Gaudio, Pittsburgh, Pa.

[73] Assignees: Anna Gaudio; Thelma Gaudio;

Vincent Gaudio; Nina Schultz, Pittsburgh, Pa. a part interest to each [58] Field of Search 15/24, 28, 29, 49 R, 50 R, 15/69, 325, 387; 134/141; 29/156.8 CF; 415/203 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,369,567 2/1921 Smith 15/29 1,491,002 4/1924 Dahlstrand 15/24 [111 3,813,721 June4,1974

1,673,094 6/1928 Stack 15/29 1,821,394 9/1931 Moschetto.... 15/29 X 1,892,930 1/1933 Burman 29/156.8 CF X 2,626,173 1/1953 Helton 15/325 X 2,777,152 1/1957 Cosentino 15/24 X 2,801,431 8/1957 Eastis 15/29 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 669,027 7/1929 France 15/29 325,221 l/1903 France 15/69 983,208 2/1951 France 15/69 Primary Examiner-Danie1 Blum [5 7] ABSTRACT A water hose attachment including a propeller actu-- 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 1 WATER HOSE, ROTARY BRUSH ATTACHMENT This invention relates generally to a water hose attachment having a brush to facilitate cleaning of automobiles and the like and, more particularly, it relates to a water propelled propeller and brush driven thereby to enable rotation of the brush under motivation by water under pressure.

An outstanding disadvantage of water hose attachments for cleaning cars and the like, which attachments include a mop or brush as presently widely used by motorists, is that considerable manual effort is required for rubbing the dirty car surface with the mop or brush, thus making car washing an arduous task.

Attempts have been made in the past to employ a propeller for driving a brush by water pressure, but these attempts have been on the whole unsuccessful in so far as providing a practical, inexpensive and compact construction, since such devices have numerous cumbersome parts which are expensive to manufacture and are heavy and impractical for water hose attachments.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel water-propelled, rotating brush attachment for water hoses which will overcome the abovenamed disadvantages.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a water hose attachment or extension which includes a very compact propeller drive for the brush and having a minimum number of parts, therefore which is extremely light in weight, which parts are of simple construction and cheaply and easily manufactured and involving standard readily available components, making the unit extremely inexpensive, yet highly efficient.

Another object of my invention is to provide a hose attachment or extension in which a housing is mounted at right angles on one end having a propeller and rotary brush driven about an axis which is at right angles to the axis of the extension or attachment, therefore making it readily adaptable for washing cars and other dirty surfaces.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

F IG. 1 is a side elevational view of a hose attachment including a water propelled rotary brush embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the hose attachment shown in FIG. 1 with part of the brush broken away to more clearly illustrate the propeller constrction; and,

FIG. 3 is a top, perspective view of the propeller and brush of FIGS. 1 and 2 shown in separated or exploded position to more clearly illustrate the details of construction of the parts thereof.

Referring more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, numeral 1 generally denotes a water propelled rotary brush assembly which is attached to the extremity of a water hose tubular extension or attachment 2 which serves as a handle for moving assembly 1 about a large dirty surface which is to be washed, such as an automobile, garage doors, windows, metal awnings, etc. A coupling element 3 including a rubber washer (not shown) is screw threaded onto corresponding threads of a water hose in a well known manner.

At the opposite end of the tubular extension or handle 2 is screw threaded a coupling element 4 mounted on a bracket 5 which, in turn, is rigidly mounted on an inverted cup-shaped housing 6, preferably made of aluminum or other light metal or possibly of plastic material.

The stationary portion of the assembly includes housing 6, an annular bumper guard or rim 7 of hard rubber or other cushioning material rigidly mounted on right angular extending strips 20 having flanged portions with holes 21 through which bolts or other fastening means may be extended for attachment to the housing 6. Rim 7 may be fastened to strips 20 by means of wires 7a or other suitable fastening means. A ball bearing or washer pair 17, 18 is rigidly secured to strip 20 to provide a stationary, anti-friction bearing element about which a vertically extending screw threaded rod 12 and propeller 9 may rotate freely.

The rotatable portions of the assembly include an elongated threaded rod 12 having a top bearing portion 13, 14 adapted to rotate in the bearing well or support and having screwed onto its lower end a serrated nut 22 and nut 25 between which is clamped the base 23 of wood or any other suitable material of a brush 8 having bristles whose top ends are embedded in base 23. The brush 8 is rotated by water power by means of a propeller 9 of relatively simple construction. It comprises an ordinary inverted cup of aluminum or other light weight material having stamped or struck out from the sides thereof, vanes or propeller blades 10 which are tapered downwardly and outwardly from the outer surface of the cup. Tabs are also struck out from the top portions 11 and project downwardly to provide drain holes. The mouth or lower portion of the propeller is braced by means of a strip 15 fastened by nuts 16 to bolt 12 and which rotates together with bolt 12 and is provided with flanged ends having holes through which fastening elements-may project for fastening the strip to diametrically opposite blades 10 to form somewhat of a rotatable cageunit.

In operation, flowing water under pressure flows from a rubber or plastic hose (not shown) onto which handle 2 is coupled by means of coupler 3 in a well known manner. Such water under pressure travels through coupler 4 and through bracket 5 and is restricted in diameter interiorly of the bracket by flattening the end of'tubular extension 2 other than the center thereof so as to provide a water stream of reduced diameter which flows substantially tangentially of the propeller 9 so as to be projected onto blades 10 to effect water propulsion of the propeller 9 which, in turn, rotates rod 12 which is rigidly connected to brush 8, thereby rotating the brush 8. Water entering housing 6 will be deflected downwardly and outwardly of the mouth or rim portion 6a which, if desired, may be covered by a rubber guard, much the same way as rim 7 onto the surface to be washed, such as an automobile, simultaneously with rotation of the brush 8 so as to effectively clean the surface.

A small hole 2a formed in a slightly bent portion of handle 2 may direct a very small stream of water onto bristles 24 of brush 8. Holes 26 are provided in the brush base. 23 to further wet the bristles 24.

Thus it will be seen that l have provided an efficient hose attachment for cleaning automobiles and the like, which includes a water propelledrotary brush which is so mounted relative to the extension to enable the extension to be used as a handle and which is so compact as to occupy a relatively small overall space, also which comprises relatively few and inexpensive standard parts which makes the assembly not only extremely light, but very inexpensive to manufacture, therefore making the device readily available to a large number of users, for use not only for washing cars, but other large surface areas such as doors, windows, awnings, etc.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only and that various changes and modifications may be contemplated within my invention and the following claims.

I claim:

1. A water hose attachment comprising a tubular extension for the hose, a screw threaded coupling element at one end of the tubular extension for screw threading onto a corresponding coupling element on the hose, an inverted cup-shaped housing attached by a bracket to the other end of said extension, an enclosed propeller in the form of an inverted cup-shaped container with a flat top and having propeller blades struck outwardly from downwardly and outwardly flared frusto-conical sidewalls thereof leaving corresponding openings in said container, the axis of said housing being at right angles to that of a plane extending through said tubular extension and propeller, said housing also being downwardly and outwardly flared, said tubular extension terminating in a nozzle which directs, substantially tangentially to the propeller, water under pressure from the hose onto said blades so as to rotate said propeller, a bolt rigidly attached to said propeller axially thereof, bearing means on said housing for rotatably supporting said bolt, a rotary brush rigidly attached to said bolt, whereby rotation of said propeller by said water under pressure will effect rotation of said brush about the axis of said bolt.

2. A water hose attachment as recited in claim 1, together with a cushioning rim attached to a pair of intersecting strips, said strips being attached to the mouth portion of said housing.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the top portion of said propeller housing has downwardly extending struck out portions serving as drain holes.

4. A hose attachment as recited in claim 1, wherein holes are provided in the base of said brush to allow water to pass therethrough.

5. A hose attachment as recited in claim 1, together with a hole in said tubular extension formed in a bent portion thereof such as to form a small nozzle to direct a small stream of water directly onto said brush. 

1. A water hose attachment comprising a tubular extension for the hose, a screw threaded coupling element at one end of the tubular extension for screw threading onto a corresponding coupling element on the hose, an inverted cup-shaped housing attached by a bracket to the other end of said extension, an enclosed propeller in the form of an inverted cup-shaped container with a flat top and having propeller blades struck outwardly from downwardly and outwardly flared frusto-conical sidewalls thereof leaving corresponding openings in said container, the axis of said housing being at right angles to that of a plane extending through said tubular extension and propeller, said housing also being downwardly and outwardly flared, said tubular extension terminating in a nozzle which directs, substantially tangentially to the propeller, water under pressure from the hose onto said blades so as to rotate said propeller, a bolt rigidly attached to said propeller axially thereof, bearing means on said housing for rotatably supporting said bolt, a rotary brush rigidly attached to said bolt, whereby rotation of said propeller by said water under pressure will effect rotation of said brush about the axis of said bolt.
 2. A water hose attachment as recited in claim 1, together with a cushioning rim attached to a pair of intersecting strips, said strips being attached to the mouth portion of said housing.
 3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the top portion of said propeller housing has downwardly extending struck out portions serving as drain holes.
 4. A hose attachment as recited in claim 1, wherein holes are provided in the base of said brush to allow water to pass therethrough.
 5. A hose attachment as recited in claim 1, together with a hole in said tubular extension formed in a bent portion thereof such as to form a small nozzle to direct a small stream of water directly onto said brush. 